The Good Place: Webisodes - The Selection

September 17, 2019 8:45 AM - Season 3, Episode 13

These six webisodes watch Shawn and his team of four dingdongs as they figure out their approach for selecting the four non-serial killer, non-boy band-managing humans who will reside in Michael's medium place experiment. They also order food, despite being immortal demons.

Chronologically this occurs between S3 episodes 11 and 12 because it's when the decision to choose Simone and John Wheaton is made.

posted by phearlez (24 comments total)

I thought it was very interesting that they just stumbled onto the approach and are leaning on the fact that these folks will unsettle the original four. I wonder how much that's a clue to how this is going to shake out since there were really never many periods in the original runs where the four weren't unsettled. Of course, they're not the ones being evaluated this run, are they?
posted by phearlez at 8:48 AM on September 17, 2019

I love this show so forking much. Can't wait for the final season. (sob)
posted by widdershins at 10:07 AM on September 17, 2019

I'm glad they did this because Marc Evan Jackson is just so talented. I'm not sure how much new info was really conveyed but it was a fun thing anyhow.

I do wonder how much of the info will appear in the new season. It's The Good Place so I expect stuff I don't think was important will pop up. (Steve Hitler, your mom writing another episode, zumba in suite d, etc.,)
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:34 AM on September 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

I wonder how long this will be the main storyline before they do another big change. This show burns through plot ideas at an astonishing rate. And I love it.
posted by acidnova at 1:01 PM on September 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

Knowing it's the last season, I expect several unexpected tempo changes in the plot.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:06 PM on September 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

The decoded menu from the start of episode 2:
JJ’s Coffe Shop

MENU
posted by Pronoiac at 6:18 PM on September 17, 2019 [3 favorites]

That’s from Parks and Rec, btw.
posted by Pronoiac at 6:38 PM on September 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Is there anywhere else to watch these? I'm not getting the traditional "go away, Canadian" message, but things are not playing anyway.
posted by Acari at 6:53 PM on September 17, 2019

Try the NBC app?
posted by Syllepsis at 7:55 PM on September 17, 2019

I do wonder how much of the info will appear in the new season.

I'm thinking the bearded demon who thought the plan was cheating might pop up again. I mean, a demon having problems with cheating? Suspicious...

Also, I noted a deliberate mention of the Michael suit Shawn created. Maybe the bearded demon in Michael in a demon suit? I dunno. Just spitballin' here...
posted by Thorzdad at 4:56 AM on September 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

So, from these we learned that the demons' sustenance is the suffering of the humans. Do they feed off the suffering that they in particular cause, or is it just that all demons partake of the totality of human suffering caused by the torture?

If the former, what does this mean for Michael? Is he starving? (or considering that the gang still suffers quite a bit, just a bit peckish?) Or does he now feed off some other quality? Joy? Friendship?

If the latter, what will happen to the demons if the Soul Squad succeeds? What if all humans are eventually freed from hell?

Or maybe that was a throwaway line that will have no impact on the course of the show.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 10:53 AM on September 18, 2019 [4 favorites]

I'm thinking the bearded demon who thought the plan was cheating might pop up again.

That's Josh Siegal, co-executive producer and writer on the show.
posted by Pendragon at 11:55 AM on September 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

I like how they got me to watch six ads in return for a low budget 15 minute video, which imho was probably about five-seven minutes too long. Cute, though.
posted by General Malaise at 2:33 PM on September 18, 2019 [9 favorites]

I do wonder how much of the info will appear in the new season. It's The Good Place so I expect stuff I don't think was important will pop up. (Steve Hitler, your mom writing another episode, zumba in suite d, etc.,)

That's always been the problem with the webisode format, the creators have to assume that 90+% of the audience won't have seen them, so they can't really affect anything in the main plot, and any important information they reveal will need to be recapitulated in the main show.

These were fun though. I actually think the webisode format works better for comedy (where "because it's funny" is a perfectly good justification for a scene that doesn't advance the plot).
posted by firechicago at 8:26 PM on September 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

I like how they got me to watch six ads

They got me to watch 1 ad 6 times. I hope that couple and their cactus find a house though.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:59 PM on September 19, 2019 [10 favorites]

Me too. I realize that being a working parent is hard but by the 6th time I saw the ad for pre-made peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches/pies I was yelling “try harder!” at the television.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:35 PM on September 19, 2019 [5 favorites]

Either this disproves the theory that Shawn or his team are behind Simone's death or Glenn is seriously sneaky.
posted by ckape at 7:26 AM on September 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Tabitha Someday, I almost think it'll be Monsters Inc rules, as silly as it sounds. Demons feed off torture energy but then they get a taste of the good shit and it is just so much better than torture.
posted by GoblinHoney at 2:48 PM on September 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Can't wait to find out who's playing Steve Hitler.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:44 PM on September 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Less than a week, everyone!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:16 PM on September 20, 2019 [4 favorites]

Is there anywhere else to watch these? I'm not getting the traditional "go away, Canadian" message, but things are not playing anyway.

I mean in theory someone could put it in a dropbox folder and share it to anyone who metamailed him but what are the chances of that *cough* it's not like someone copied them so they could make gifs of Shawn staring.
posted by phearlez at 10:55 AM on September 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

I realize that being a working parent is hard but by the 6th time I saw the ad for pre-made peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches/pies I was yelling “try harder!” at the television.

I had this ad (only four times for some reason) and the line "bakery bread" stands out to me. Like, is there bread that comes from somewhere else? Granted, their "bakery" probably consists of a vat of dough-goo shooting into injection molds. Is the line meant to invoke the scene of someone stopping off at their little corner French bakery and picking up 700,000 breads on their way to the PB&J factory?

Amusing webisodes with great acting. Much of the dialog made me feel like I was watching locker room scenes of Monsters, Inc.

Mike: Can I borrow your odorant?

Sulley: Yeah, I got, uh, smelly garbage or old dumpster.

Mike: You got, uh, low tide?

Sulley: No.

Mike: How about wet dog?

Sulley: Yep. Stink it up.

posted by mikepop at 11:47 AM on September 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm a teeny tiny bit excited about the fourth season.
posted by bq at 1:56 PM on September 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Making Emily Dickinson listen to the Joe Rogan podcast was a pretty good eternal torment.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 2:08 PM on September 26, 2019 [2 favorites]